Rants on Cycling and on Life:
Photos of people and bicycles that pass in front of my camera

4.02.2007

a cyclist breaking the law may contribute to the accident...

a cyclist breaking the law may contribute to an accidentbut...a speeding car contributes (if not causes) to the fatality

had the car in the accident from the previous post been going the speed limit then perhaps the accident would have been an injury rather than a fatality

the law needs to start taking that measure into account when viewing these things

better yet...drivers need to take such things into account when drivingor at least when driving and approaching a cyclist on the road

it boggles my mind that cars pass me so fast and so closealways exceeding the speed limit

the law that a car must pass a cyclist a minimum of three feet is a givenbut... there should be a wake up call telling car drivers that they need to be going a speed bellow the speed limit when passing a cyclistwhich means...if a car is in a 25MPH Zone it is not enough for them to slow from 45 to 35MPHthese cars should slow to a speed bellow the marked speed limitotherwise it is reckless driving

these are the types of things that need to be contained in a public service annoucement

changes need to start before people start their enginesthe changes need to occur in their minds long before they approach the cyclist

5 comments:

vehicles see cyclists breaking the law all the time... laws they tend to follow...

yes, the speed limit is a law for a car, but other laws like stop signs and stop lights they obey quite strictly. Why? Because if they didn't they'd get in lots more accidents...

Speed is a problem for cyclists...

the speed of cars specifically...

but...

blowing through a line of cars waiting at a red light - and then rolling through the red light (as a cyclists) is pretty much saying F U cars... i don't give a crap about your laws...

but then you turn around and expect the cars to afford you some respect?

Doesn't work that way in my book.

I'm out there as much as the next commuter. or more in some cases...

with a trailer...

anyway...

respect starts from the individual...

you show respect - if the whole bike culture started respecting stop lights and stop signs, one ways and all that then i think we'd have a revolution of sorts and we'd find it far easier to combat the vehicle/car interface...

I can't figure out how to comment anymore. Here's what I was going to say:

I agree that cyclists should follow the law. I think cyclists should follow the laws to make our actions predictable and make it harder for the jerks to kill us.

But his "respect" mantra that I hear constantly makes me bilious. It's the approach of an underclass trying to appease those who are constantly screwing them. It's as absurd as saying the disabled should respect those who don't think there should be ramps in public buildings, or the kidnapped should respect their captors, or the abused person should respect their abusers.

The system is killing us - literally. Saying we need to respect the system is nuts.

Moreover, the idea that cars and bikes should have equal rights is quaint and soothing but stupid. The differences between cars and cyclists makes treating them the same absurd. Bikes need more protection not the same protection or - as things are currently - less protection.

Among other things, the laws, signals, parking lots, detours, budgets, construction projects, and road design are all designed for cars. In Denver, the city doesn't even bother making traffic lights notice bicycles.

Also, gwad is right about the craziness of equating cyclists who break the law and drivers who break the law. I have yet to hear of a cyclist/car collision that harmed the driver. Cyclists are more vulnerable.

my feeling...I treat lights and stop signs as yeild signsI obey the law in between these intersections

where I ride I find that when I am within the limits of the law I get treated with no respect...

there are intersections where I stop for traffic as it is not safe to just flow throughat these intersections I am viewed as being invisiblenever am I given my fair turn to go when on my bikecars roll through...cars fail to offer me my rightsso...with no respect given when within the limts of the lawit is just as well that I take what I can

honestly...I view a cyclist running a stop sign in the same way I view a car speedingthere is a bending of the lawthere is a breaking of the lawa slight modification is different than ignoring

I never as that cars go the speed limitthe law is not my issuesafety is my concern

the actions of the cyclist is an evolution developed after the chaos created by the car

the cyclist is not safe when obeying the law or breaking the lawI know someone who was run down and killed while on his bike waiting for the light to change

i agree with every view mentioned here....but ultimately we as cyclist have got to be 120% sure of our surroundings, we need to know what roads are safe ,and what roads are not, i`ve been plowed down by a lady doin 50 mph in a 82 caddy, i had an old lady turn in front of me ,causing me to break my neck,,in all these instances i was in the right, but even so after years of incident free riding,(plenty of near incidents)i`ve realized their were plenty of counter measures and different things i could be doin to in ensure my SAFETY,anywayz i`m glad we as cyclist have a VOICE like yours up in our nations Capitol spreading the good word!!!!!!!!

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